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Kindle Demonstration & Notes

This Friday I got to demonstrate some features of my Kindle 2.0 to a group of about 20 staff at my library. We’re getting ready to go the e-book route, which I think is very exciting. I feel so grateful that my library is willing to embrace and explore new technologies — we circulate video game systems, laptops, flip cameras, and our reference services entail chatting, texting, blogging and technology instruction. . .

Anyway, I’m getting distracted from what I REALLY wanted to tell you about, which is libraries and e-Books. It looks like my library is going to end up going with Sony e-Readers, because we already use the Overdrive service for audiobooks, and Overdrive just partnered up with Sony to offer content for their e-Readers earlier this summer. This makes me sad for entirely selfish reasons, because I use a Kindle — but that’s just the way it goes in the format wars. And it does really bug me that the Kindle is so proprietary and DRM-y — but all the better to hack, my dear! (And lest we forget — Sony is not exactly exempt from the evils of DRM, either. Remember that fiasco?)

Yes, I digress again. So I brought in my Kindle, and another staff member brought in her Sony e-Reader, and we talked about them in front of a group of people for about an hour. I think it was really useful for the staff to actually see (and touch!) the e-Readers for themselves. Touching is very important. Click here to see my notes (pdf) from the presentation basically describing the features of my Kindle 2.0, including what I do and don’t like about it.

And after the presentation, one of the children’s librarians saw me putting away my Kindle and caught a glimpse of my iPod nano, which led to a lovely 20 minute ad hoc reference session. She was very intrigued by the idea that she could put photos on the iPod to show her friends & family — I think she might get one!